2,000 fewer nurses under the SNP as fears raised for strain on frontline staff

New figures show there are 2,000 fewer nurses since SNP came to power

NATALIE WALKER

SCOTLAND now has 2,000 fewer nurses working in the NHS under the SNP Government, new figures show.

The cut in frontline healthcare staff was condemned by patient groups, trade unions and opposition parties, who warned of a “significant strain” being put on staff who are struggling to deliver proper standards of care.

Statistics released yesterday showed the number of nurses and midwifery posts fell by 45 in the past three months – a drop of 2,000 in three years.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) also revealed that, on top of this, there were currently 1,390 nurse and midwife vacancies in Scotland – 400 more than in June.

These empty posts have been created as a result of jobs being downgraded and nurses having to take pay cuts to do the same jobs, the organisation claimed.

The RCN also said some of the posts were for specialisms where there were fewer qualified staff and grading levels had been changed for some posts, preventing many nurses applying.

Theresa Fyffe, RCN director in Scotland, described the fall in nurse numbers as “bad news for patients”.

She said: “We can’t escape the fact that since 2009 we have lost more than 2,000 nursing staff. Cuts to the workforce are not only bad news for patient care, but mean remaining staff in the NHS are increasingly over-stretched.

“With increasing cost pressures on boards, an ageing population and increasing demand for services, we need to be sure that the nursing workforce is sustainable and able to deliver high-quality care for every patient into the future.”

The number of nursing and midwifery staff was 56,263 at the end of September, compared with 56,309 at the same time in 2011.

Previous figures show 57,878 nurses and midwives were employed in September 2008, and this rose to 58,428 in 2009.

The RCN says the drop in staffing levels is a result of cost-savings by health boards and includes voluntary redundancy and not replacing posts that become vacant.

Labour health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said the reduced nursing levels had led to an increase in the number of complaints from patients.

She said: “Not having adequate nursing staff numbers is one of the main reasons complaints are at an all-time high.

“The NHS can’t go on like this. It’s getting by on a month-by-month, year-by-year basis, with no strategic planning. The money is running out and more cuts are inevitable.”

The drop in the staffing levels comes two years after Scotland’s health boards were set a target of working to save £45 million on staff costs every year.

Scottish Tory health spokesman Jackson Carlaw, said: “With almost 1,400 vacancies, we really need to address this gap now. Filling these spaces would go a long way towards easing the pressure on those in place and result in better care for patients.”

The official figures showed a slight increase, 0.1 per cent, in the total number of staff employed by the NHS. It stood at 162,234 in September, 883 more than the time last year.

Health secretary Alex Neil said: “We know more people are being treated in the community and hospital stays are shorter than ever, so the shape of the NHS workforce is changing, but I am very clear our hospitals must have the levels of staffing and skills to continue to deliver the very best-quality care.

“That’s why it is vital any changes are led by in-depth and rigorous planning, so we can make sure the right mix of staff are working in the right place.”

This website and its associated newspaper adheres to the Independent Press Standards Organisation's Editors' Code of Practice.
If you have a complaint about editorial content which relates to inaccuracy or intrusion, then contact the
Editor by clicking here.

If you remain dissatisfied with the response provided then you can contact the IPSO by
clicking here.

The Scotsman provides news, events and sport features from the Edinburgh area. For the best up to date information relating to Edinburgh and the surrounding areas visit us at The Scotsman regularly or bookmark this page.

For you to enjoy all the features of this website The Scotsman requires permission to use cookies.

Find Out More ▼

What is a Cookie?

What is a Flash Cookie?

Can I opt out of receiving Cookies?

About our Cookies

Cookies are small data files which are sent to your browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome etc) from a website you visit. They are stored on your electronic device.

This is a type of cookie which is collected by Adobe Flash media player (it is also called a Local Shared Object) - a piece of software you may already have on your electronic device to help you watch online videos and listen to podcasts.

Yes there are a number of options available, you can set your browser either to reject all cookies, to allow only "trusted" sites to set them, or to only accept them from the site you are currently on.

However, please note - if you block/delete all cookies, some features of our websites, such as remembering your login details, or the site branding for your local newspaper may not function as a result.

The types of cookies we, our ad network and technology partners use are listed below:

Revenue Science ►

A tool used by some of our advertisers to target adverts to you based on pages you have visited in the past. To opt out of this type of targeting you can visit the 'Your Online Choices' website by clicking here.

Google Ads ►

Our sites contain advertising from Google; these use cookies to ensure you get adverts relevant to you. You can tailor the type of ads you receive by visiting here or to opt out of this type of targeting you can visit the 'Your Online Choices' website by clicking here.

Digital Analytics ►

This is used to help us identify unique visitors to our websites. This data is anonymous and we cannot use this to uniquely identify individuals and their usage of the sites.

Dart for Publishers ►

This comes from our ad serving technology and is used to track how many times you have seen a particular ad on our sites, so that you don't just see one advert but an even spread. This information is not used by us for any other type of audience recording or monitoring.

ComScore ►

ComScore monitor and externally verify our site traffic data for use within the advertising industry. Any data collected is anonymous statistical data and cannot be traced back to an individual.

Local Targeting ►

Our Classified websites (Photos, Motors, Jobs and Property Today) use cookies to ensure you get the correct local newspaper branding and content when you visit them. These cookies store no personally identifiable information.

Grapeshot ►

We use Grapeshot as a contextual targeting technology, allowing us to create custom groups of stories outside out of our usual site navigation. Grapeshot stores the categories of story you have been exposed to. Their privacy policy and opt out option can be accessed here.

Subscriptions Online ►

Our partner for Newspaper subscriptions online stores data from the forms you complete in these to increase the usability of the site and enhance user experience.

Add This ►

Add This provides the social networking widget found in many of our pages. This widget gives you the tools to bookmark our websites, blog, share, tweet and email our content to a friend.